Xinshun 1730

Chapter 974 As usual
So, under this premise, how can "the standard of salt merchants be raised" so as to reach the point of "using the name of ticket salt and the truth of salt"?
Wu Jingzi said again: "The direction of the salt reform is nothing more than letting go of the salt reform and allowing small businessmen to enter. Then, the salt reform itself is the mouth of the world, and it will be moved sooner or later."

"The thing to do is to change without changing."

"The so-called change is to make those people in the world who say they want to change have nothing to say, and they have indeed changed."

"The so-called unchanged means that the person who controls the salt in the end is still a person like Brother Zheng. In fact, it has not changed."

"Brother Zheng, do you know where the key to 'change without change' is?"

Zheng Yuxu had vaguely touched the key to that layer, but he couldn't find a point of strength for a while.

He has already approved of Wu Jingzi's thinking, the thinking is definitely right, this thinking is very novel, but very effective.

The key is, how to turn this idea into reality?
He stood up and bowed to Wu Jingzi, earnestly said: "Please enlighten me!"

Wu Jingzi said: "The key lies in the northern Chu, western Anhui, Jiangxi and other distant places."

"The calls for salt reform are already raging, and Brother Zheng will read more of these articles if he wants to. It's just..."

Speaking of this, Wu Jingzi smiled mockingly.

"It's just that the group of people in Songjiang Mansion didn't follow suit. They were busy making money. If those people entered the market, they would definitely point out an important loophole in these reform statements—whether the small salt merchants have the capital and ability to The salt is transported further to southern Anhui and northern Chu?"

"If the ticket salt law means that as long as you pay for the ticket, you can sell it everywhere, will it cause salt flooding near the salt field, and no one will take it away from the salt field?"

"If the Ticket Law is combined with the Gang Law and divided into different salt areas, and the ticket for A land cannot be sold in B land, then what is the difference between this and Gang Yan? It is nothing more than paying money when taxes are collected every year, but now it is selling tickets. When I give you money, can't Brother Zheng just buy all the tickets?"

"If you don't divide the salt area, as long as it is the coverage of the Huaibei salt field, you can sell it at will, so who wants to go to a far place? Do small capital and small merchants have the financial resources to go to southern Anhui and northern Chu?"

"If you can't cover the remote parts of the salt area, wouldn't it still be illegal salt?"

"What the imperial court wants is to crack down on private salt. But obviously, this only hits the private salt in Jiangsu and Henan, but aggravates the private salt in Jiangxi, Hubei, and Anhui. This is one of them."

"Secondly, when small businessmen enter the market, they don't mention whether they have capital transferred to distant places such as Hubei, Anhui, and other places. They only say that they are quoted for three to five hundred catties. How to check? Is it easier to carry private goods than large ships?"

"Such a change can only restrain the private salt in Jiangsu, Henan, and Anhui, but it cannot touch Hubei and Jiangxi, where private salt is really rampant."

As the saying goes, hit a snake and hit seven inches.

Wu Jingzi's words hit seven inches above the court's salt administration reform.

If you take the common people as an example, can the completely market-oriented salt reform benefit remote areas?
Businessmen seek profit, how to ensure that businessmen buy salt tickets in remote areas in the concept of salt industry?

If you don't talk about the people, don't talk about the big banner, talk about the truth, talk about salt tax, talk about private salt.

Then, such a change is equivalent to directly abandoning the official salt market in Jiangxi, Hubei, and Western Anhui in Lianghuai, and completely throwing it to private salt.

There is such a truth in this: small businessmen cannot afford the capital required for sales in remote areas in the concept of salt industry.

According to the salt government reform plan that those people are screaming at, the forty or fifty counties and counties covered by Huaibei are all counted as "Huaibei Sales Area".

A minimum of 300 catties can be admitted.

Once you enter the venue and buy tickets, you can sell them in the entire Huaibei sales area.

Indeed, with immediate results, private salt in the Lianghuai area can be wiped out instantly.

But what about the distance?

Under perfect market conditions, in theory, as long as the profit is enough, someone will definitely sell it.

But the question is whether this "perfect market condition" exists?
How long does it take for the official salt bought by retail merchants to go to Hubei?Is capital sufficient?How much profit?
Illegal salt already exists. Illegal salt is sold there. If you can’t sell official salt, you can’t get back the cost. Will you go there again?

The biggest difference between this era and later generations lies in the transportation cost and turnover cycle.

this is a problem.

The second question is that another purpose of establishing the Salt Guidelines Law and establishing nest merchants is collective transportation to facilitate the investigation of smuggling.

Now that small businessmen enter the market, a boat of [-] catties, a boat of [-] catties, leave today and leave tomorrow, this smuggling can’t go anywhere?
Can you check it?
Dashun officials don't understand too many economic terms, but it doesn't mean they don't understand.

This time, the idea of ​​salt administration reform is the standard market competition idea.

There are four advantages listed.

The first benefit is that if the ticket dealers charge less, the price of salt will be lower day by day, and the lower price will win over private interests.

The second advantage: ticket dealers bring their money, first pay taxes and then salt, and there is no disadvantage of tax arrears.

The third benefit: ticket dealers do what they can, even if there is not much capital, they are allowed to traffic, which will broaden the livelihood of the people.

The fourth benefit: Merchants compete with each other, fearing that people will not buy their own goods, and the salt will be pure and white, winning by quality, and the common people will benefit.

That is to say, as long as the market-oriented operation is released, not only will the salt eaten by the common people become cheaper and cheaper, but also under full competition, the salt of various salt dealers will not dare to shoddy the salt, and the quality of the salt will definitely be higher and higher.

The truth is this, and the thinking of the officials seems to be correct.

But there are two issues not considered:
First, how to ensure that merchant groups do not monopolize salt tickets with capital?Rely on court intervention?Wouldn't that run counter to the guiding ideas of reform?

How did the court interfere?Given enough power, isn't that going back to the old way of salt officials seeking personal gain?If you don't give enough power, how can you control these big salt merchants who add up to tens of millions of taels?
Second, do small traders have the capital to undertake such a long-distance transportation and turnover in places far away from the salt-producing areas?

And for big merchants, why not sell it where it is convenient to sell it?Why not dominate the high-quality market?
Who would take the initiative to think about the common people and grab salt tickets from distant places where transportation is inconvenient?

Good sales area, everyone grabs their heads.

Bad sales area, no one cares.

There is vicious competition where there is a lot of head-scratching; where no one cares, private salt is rampant.

Of course, this may just be a rhetoric.

But this rhetoric can be used as a reason to elicit what the salt merchants really want.

What are these big salt merchants afraid of?
Afraid of selling salt tickets?

They are not short of money.

What they are afraid of is that "three to five hundred catties can undertake to buy tickets".

So, what is "doing filial piety in the name of imperial examinations"?

It is to raise the entry standard.

The reason is also very simple:
Can a small merchant survive a turnaround time of more than a year?

Can it withstand the bankruptcy caused by private salt competition that cannot be sold after the shipment has passed?
Can't stand it.

Once it can't stand it, within three to five years, no one will sell the salt in remote areas.

At that time, private salt will be flooded directly.

And the imperial court wanted this kind of market-oriented reform precisely for the official salt to defeat the private salt. Isn't this the opposite?

So, does the imperial court need a big businessman to undertake these places that require long-term capital and capital investment?

To ensure the stability of official salt in areas far away from salt production areas?Wouldn't it be that there are so many people who come this year that they can't be sold? No one will come next year, and the people will be pale?

need.

If necessary, places with good profits, such as around the Huaibei salt area, will be given to small capitals; the most difficult places will be given to big capitals?
is it possible?

Now that the voting law has been changed, can I quit?Come and go freely.Why don't I grab the best sales area and go to the troubled areas?
So, is there a solution?

Of course there are.

Wu Jingzi's method for Zheng Yuxu is divided into six steps.

The first step: Be clear and directly oppose the reform of the salt administration. Even if the limelight passes today, it will be brought up again tomorrow.

Therefore, we must not expressly oppose it, but absolutely support the reform of the salt administration.

Step [-]: After the support, use the Confucian scholars controlled by salt merchants to mobilize public opinion to force out the harm of small capital entering the market, especially pointing out that "affecting the sales of official salt by the imperial court in Hubei and other places may cause private Salt is more rampant".

Directly ask those who support the reform of the salt administration, have you thought of this problem?How are you going to fix this problem?
Bring up all kinds of extreme possibilities, and ask them how to solve these problems if they happen?

Do you dare to gamble and make written evidence like the missionaries and Qin Tianjian did back then, to ensure that similar things will not happen?If something happened, commit suicide and apologize?

Step Three: Come up with a solution.

Small merchants are undercapitalized and unable to complete transshipment in remote areas.

Then, this requires large merchants with sufficient capital to undertake the work of transporting and selling salt in Hubei, West Anhui, Jiangxi and other places.

At the same time, small boats are easy to carry private goods, but large ships are not easy to carry private goods, because once they are checked, the cost will be too high.

It is unreasonable for small businessmen to work hard in places where it is easy to make money and turn over, but to leave places that are not easy to turn over.

The best way is to compensate those merchants who transport salt to remote areas.

How to compensate, the method of "far transport and near compensation" is used, that is, according to the proportion, the short-distance salt and the long-distance salt reach a ratio, and the tickets are bundled.

For example, in a place like Southern Jiangsu, everyone must fight for it.

But it’s okay, you can grab it, the premise is that you have to bear part of the remote areas in western Anhui and northern Chu.

For example, a ticket for 50 catties in southern Jiangsu must be bundled with a ticket for 20 catties in western Anhui.

Otherwise, who will guarantee that Sunan's vote is fair?How can the second uncle's third nephew's fourth nephew who is in charge of the salt ticket ensure that they don't get Sunan's ticket first?
Step Four: Strike while the iron is hot.

Once the tickets are sold in bundles, small businessmen can't do it anymore.

At this time, "capital verification and ticket exchange" is proposed, that is, only when the capital reaches a certain amount and proves that you have the ability to turn around, can you buy salt tickets.

To come up with enough principal, to prove the ability.However, ordinary merchants have difficulty in turnover and high interest rates, so how can they take out the principal as a security deposit?
At this time, the dual purpose of capital verification is achieved.

Only those who have sufficient capital are qualified to do it; if the capital is insufficient, they will definitely not be able to do it.If the capital is half-full and half-insufficient, if you take out the deposit, you can leave the market directly, and the turnover will not open.

Step [-]: Improve the admission qualification line.

Increase the minimum amount of transshipment tickets to between 2000 and 5000 old quotations, which is about 70 to 140 million catties of salt.

In this way, small, medium and large but not too large retail merchants with a share capital of less than 10 taels are completely blocked.

Not just the money for salt, but also shipping costs, turnover, etc. Without 10 taels, it is impossible to do a business of 5000 taels.

Once the businessmen with a net worth of less than 10 taels are squeezed out, the rest will be easy to say.

Step [-]: The old general contractor sits down and divides the monopoly.

The original big salt merchants got together to discuss and negotiate their respective quotas and areas, and no one should eat more.Line up to control the field.

In this way, even if the salt administration is reformed and changed to the ticket salt law, in fact, it is these big salt merchants who hold the salt ticket.

However, the original Yanyin was owned by my grandfather, who passed it on to my father, and then to me.

Now, tickets are sold publicly every year, and I go through the process. My salt ticket has nothing to do with my father, and I bought it with my own money.If you have money, you can buy it.

After completing all these six steps, the goal of "changing without changing" and "doing filial piety in the name of imperial examinations" has been achieved.

Have you changed it?
changed,

Has the Salt Law been abolished?
abolished.

Has it changed to the salt ticket law?
It became.

Is Shiobiki no longer inherited?

Yes, no more inheritance.

Is the public sale of tickets issued every year?

public sale.

Then, is there a difference from before?

If there is, there is.

If you say no, it seems that there is no such thing.

Relying on the capital in their hands, even if the ticket law is changed, as long as the key card "small merchants have insufficient capital and cannot be transferred to the west of Anhui and the north of Chu" is played out and the qualifications for buying tickets are increased, they still control the salt. monopoly.

At that time, wait for the wind to pass.

How it should be.

Sell ​​quotes before.

Selling tickets now.

Previously it was an annual tax package.

Now it is bought on an annual basis.

Before that, I directly inherited my father's Yanyin.

Now I inherit my father's money and use the money to buy salt tickets.

In this way, those who call for the reform of the salt administration can not only have nothing to say, but also achieve the purpose of the salt merchants to oppose the reform.

Because the nature of their anti-reform is that the reform has touched their interests, not because they are sensitive to the word "reform", they feel uncomfortable when they hear it, and they oppose it for the sake of opposition.As long as the old interests are not touched, change it, change it vigorously.

(End of this chapter)